No. 15.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches to No. 14, inclusive. Your interesting despatch (No. 16) of the 19th of May last has also been received. The suggestions therein contained, touching the disposition of the surplus remaining after satisfying the claims of American citizens against China, will be made known to Congress at the commencement of the next session. I am, sir, your obedient servant, ANSON BURLINGAME, Esq., &c., &, &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. ROME. No. 2.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Blatchford. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 25, 1862. SIR: This government has not now, it seldom has had, any special transaction, either commercial or political, to engage the attention of a minister at Rome. Indeed, until a very late period the United States were without any representation at that ancient and interesting capital. The first colonists. in this country were chiefly Protestants, who not merely recognized no ecclesiastical authority of the Pope, but were very jealous lest he might exert some ecclesiastical influence here which would be followed by an assumption of political power unfavorable to freedom and self-government on this continent. It was not seen that the political power of the Catholic church was a purely foreign affair, constituting an important part of the political system of the European continent. The opening of our country as an asylum to men of all religions, as well as of all races, and an extension of the trade of the Union, in a short time brought with them large masses of the faithful members of that church of various birth and derivation, and these masses are continually augmenting. Our country has not been slow to learn that while religion is with these masses, as it is with others, a matter of conscience, and while the spiritual authority of the head of their church is a cardinal article of their faith, which must be tolerated on the souudest principles of civil liberty, yet that this faith in no degree necessarily interferes with the equal rights of the citizen, or affects unfavorably his loyalty to the republic. It is believed that ever since the tide of emigration set in upon this continent the head of the Roman church and states has freely recognized and favored the development of this principle of political freedom on the part of the Catholics in this country, while he has never lost an opportunity to express his satisfaction with the growth, prosperity and progress of the American people. It was under these circumstances that this government, in 1848, wisely determined that while it maintained representatives in the capitals of every other civilized state, and even at the capitals of many semi-civilized states which reject the whole Christian religion, it was neither wise nor necessary to exclude Rome from the circle of our diplomatic intercourse. Thus far the new relation then established has proved pleasant and beneficent. Just now Rome is the seat of profound ecclesiastical and political anxieties, which, more or less, affect all the nations of Europe. The Holy Father claims immunity for the temporal power he exercises, as a right incident to an ecclesiastical authority which is generally respected by the European states. On the other hand, some of those states, with large masses in other states, assert that this temporal power is without any religious sanction, is unnecessary and pernicious. I have stated the question merely for the purpose of enabling myself to give you the President's views of what will be your duty with regard to it. That duty is to forbear altogether from taking any part in the controversy. The reasons for this forbearance are three : First, that so far as spiritual or ecclesiastical matters enter into the question they are beyond your province, for you are a political representative only. Second, so far as it is a question affecting the Roman States it is a domestic one, and we are a foreign nation. Third, so far as it is a political question merely, it is at the same time purely an European one, and you are an American minister, bound to avoid all entangling connexion with the politics of that continent. This line of conduct will nevertheless allow you to express, and you are therefore instructed to express, to His Holiness the assurances of the best wishes of the government and of the people of the United States for his health and happiness, and for the safety and prosperity and happiness of the Roman people. And you will further assure him that the United States constantly preserves a lively remembrance of the many generous and liberal manifestations they have received of his good will and friendship, and that he may confidently rely upon them for the practice of all the duties which grow out of the relations of the two countries as independent members of the family of nations. You will find Rome a resort and temporary residence of intellectual persons from all parts of the world. Among them are many who, in various degrees, exercise an influence upon the opinions, and, perhaps in some cases, upon the policies of nations. It will be a pleasing duty for you at this moment, when our unhappy domestic conflict is a subject of universal discussion, to vindicate the justice, the wisdom, and the moderation of the government and loyal people of the United States against those who, from interest, prejudice, or passion, are directing their efforts to the overthrow of a republic which, we must continue to think, still holds in its keeping the best hopes of the human race. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: A despatch which bears the date of September 16 has been received from our consul, Mr. Stillman, who, for some time has been performing the duties of the legation at Rome. The President learns, with much satisfaction, from that paper that the interruptions of the public peace have ceased, and that tranquility prevails at that capital. The conversation with Cardinal Antonelli, which Mr. Stillman reports, is full of interest. The good wishes expressed by that statesman are such as this government expected from him, and his convictions that in rejecting all ideas of concession or compromise with our domestic enemies this government is pursuing its proper and necessary policy are as creditable to his Eminence as they are gratifying to the United States. The military situation of the country has much improved within the few days which have elapsed since your departure, and the public mind has become more tranquil and confident of ultimate success. I am your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. RICHARD M. BLATCHFORD, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Rome. EGYPT. No 10.] Mr. Thayer to Mr. Seward. UNITED STATES CONSULATE GENERAL., SIR: I have the honor to announce that the viceroy of Egypt has again shown his good will to the United States, by directing the captain of the port of Alexandria to exclude all vessels bearing an unrecognized flag from the harbors of Egypt. Instructions to this effect, I am informed by the minister of foreign affairs, were issued about two weeks ago, in consequence of a suggestion addressed to his highness by this consulate general. At an interview which I had with him on the 3d instant, at Cairo, his highness also assured me that no privateer in the service of the domestic enemies of the United States will be allowed to be fitted out, or to bring its prizes in any port of his dominions. The following passages, translated from a note sent to me by his excellency Nubar Bey, in behalf of the viceroy, show that in the facilities for obtaining Egyptian cotton our manufacturers are placed on an equal footing with those of Great Britain. The note is dated October 18th, and is in reply to some interrogatories which I had verbally made to the secretary. "MONSIEUR LE CONSUL GÉNÉRAL: I have had the honor to report to his highness, conformably to your desire, what you have said to me on the subject of the words addressed by his highness to the deputation of the Manchester Association for the Extension of the Culture of Cotton. 66 His highness has charged me to inform you, Monsieur, that what he has said for any association which may be formed in England, for the above mentioned purpose, he says equally to any which your countrymen may organize." At the interview to which I have referred the viceroy repeated this assurance in person to me, saying that he had never intended to exclude my compatriots from an equal share in the privileges accorded to the capitalists of Great Britain. I may add that at the same interview his highness manifested the liveliest interest in our national affairs, the journals, as he said, being filled with nothing else. He seemed to appreciate the difference in resources between the government and its enemies, and had no doubt that the government, sustained as it was by so large a majority of the people, would successfully quell the insurrection, though, in consequence of the extent of our southern territory, the contest might be protracted, His highness approved the large scale of our military preparations, saying that the only policy was to push the war, once begun, vigorously to the end, and that half-way measures were as bad in war as in anything else. The viceroy, who is the son of the celebrated Mehemet Ali, may speak with hereditary authority on questions of this kind. It was very plain, from the tone of his remarks, that our government has lost none of its prestige in his estima A significant piece of news here is that the receipt of intelligence that a squad ron had been sent, by the authorities at Washington, to open the southern ports caused cotton to fall in one day from twenty-five dollars to twenty-one dollars a cantar, (hundred weight.) Twenty-five dollars a cantar is the highest price ever known in Egypt. Prior to this time, the highest figure was twenty-three dollars, the result of the Crimean war. The price is now about eighteen or nineteen dollars the cantar. The Englishmen have begun to make advances to fellahs on the security of their coming cotton crops, in accordance with the concessions of the viceroy. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. WM. S. THAYER. Mr. Thayer to Mr. Seward. No. 12.] UNITED STATES CONSULATE GENERAL., SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the despatch of October 9, (No. 4,) in which you are pleased to testify the government's approbation of my proceedings for the punishment of the outrage inflicted by the mob of Osint on an agent of the American missionaries here. I have also the honor to send herewith the reply of Mohammed Said, viceroy of Egypt, to the letter of the President of the United States, accompanying your despatch of October 9, as well as the letter of the viceroy's minister of foreign affairs, on the subject of excluding privateers from the harbors of Egypt. It will be seen that the viceroy's order of exclusion applies expressly not to all privateers, but only to privateers and vessels bearing an unrecognized flag, so that our domestic enemies are thus deprived of those belligerent rights which are very properly accorded to ourselves. The government of his highness is too friendly to the United States to affect not to know the difference in the status of the two contending parties in our civil contest. Copies of the letters of the viceroy and of his minister (marked A and B) are appended to this despatch. * I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. A. HONORABLE SIR AND FRIEND: Mr. Thayer, consul general of the United States at Alexandria, has presented me the letter you were pleased to write me expressing your feelings of satisfaction for the punishment which I have inflicted on some individuals guilty of evil and cruel treatment towards an agent of certain Christian missionaries in Upper Egypt. Mr. Thayer, who, I am happy to say, entertains with me the most friendly relations, had already expressed to me the feelings of your government. In this case, honorable sir and friend, I have only executed the rule which I |